Steve and Sandy Forest started Brushy Mountain Bee Farm in their kitchen over twenty years ago. The farm, located near Wadesboro, had revenues of over $2 million in 1998. The Forests not only raise bees and sell honey, but they also have a web site, publish a catalog, and supply beekeepers worldwide with supplies through a mail-order service.

There are around 1,300 beekeepers in North Carolina. Beekeepers James Patterson of Halifax County and Chuck Norton of Rockingham County discuss beekeeping, how to tell commercial honey from local honey, and how to tell one type of honey from another.

Chapel Hill resident and beekeeper Liz Lindsey is folklorist who is part of a new generation of beekeepers. The new generation is younger, female, and urban. Males tend to dominate the field, but that is changing. Beekeeping in the state of North Carolina and the various reasons women are being drawn to beekeeping are discussed.

Bee City USA is an Asheville-based organization that continues to galvanize communities across the country to foster pollinator-friendly landscapes and gardens that provide essential habitat to bees and other pollinators. This June, Bee City USA-certified communities and beekeepers are celebrating Pollinator Week by hosting educational events dedicated to all things pollinator.

Thanks to campaigns aimed at reversing ebbs in pollinator numbers, honey bees have lost their edge. Beekeeper Sean Collinsworth discusses the sophisticated and efficient ways in which bees communicate and behave. Collinsworth has forty hives from which he makes several varieties of honey for his business, KillerBeesHoney.com.

In North Carolina beekeeping is a hobby that is rapidly growing in popularity among people who want to be more self-sufficient. Honeybees are also the most important pollinator for crops grown in North Carolina. This article provides insight from a local beekeeper, describes how bees make honey, and discusses current efforts to preserve bees throughout the state.

North Carolina has the largest beekeepers’ association in the United States. A Master Beekeeper program will be launched in North Carolina this fall, sponsored by the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service and the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association. Individuals will have the opportunity to attend training courses and then take exams to qualify for one of five certification levels.

Ben Rose of Roper is a master beekeeper and his honeybees are a crucial link in the development of a wide variety of crops. Without bees to pollinate the plants, there would be nothing to harvest. As one of the few commercial beekeepers in North Carolina, Rose transports his bees to various locations where crops need pollinating.

John Herbert Caudle discovered raw honey as a way to cope with the effects of his cancer treatments. Caudle’s business, Herb’s Honey, produces raw honey, which is not heated or mixed with corn syrup, like most processed honeys are. Caudle became interested in beekeeping after learning about raw honey’s health benefits, including wound treatment, allergy and sore throat relief, and skin-clearing properties.